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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "transfer into your account" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "hundred thousand us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "chief auditor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: MR PAUL MADI <mrpaulmadiiim02@gmail.com>
Reply-To: MR PAUL MADI <mrpaulmadi758@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2016 06:37:55 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP.
My Dearest Friend,
I am MR. PAUL MADI, The chief auditor in bank of Africa (boa) Burkina Faso
West African, I have a business proposal for you valued at $27.2million us dollars (twenty-seven million two hundred thousand us dollars) My proposal is that i will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin or distant cousin for us to claim this money. As a foreign partner which this money will be transfer into your account, you
are entitle to 50% of the total money while 50% will be for me as the
moderator of this transaction.
My position as the chief auditor in this bank guarantees the successful
execution of this (deal) transaction.
Please send the following if you are interested in this transaction and Please go through this site http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/4537663.stm
1) Your full name..... 2) Sex..... 3) Age..... 4) Country..... 5) Passport or photo.....
6) Occupation..... 7) Personal Mobile number..... 8)Personal fax number.....
9) Home & office address.....
Thanks.
Yours faithfully,
MR. PAUL MADI.
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Anti-fraud resources:
